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Friday 27 March 2015

Friday 27 Mach 2015 Whitchurch

Firstly a big thank you to Alf and Graham who put me right about the helicopters, I have had the wrong idea for many years watching them down the Montgomery Arm. It seems they are not police but RAF ones from Shawbury

Thank goodness that wind dropped overnight and it was a bright start to the day. before setting off we had a wander round town spending a few bob in the local shops. As we returned to the boat Diana wanted some things from Tesco so I returned to Harnser with the other shopping an set to getting ready to set off, moving to the end of the arm to wind, just as she came out of Tesco. I noticed that not only are there rings right to the end of the arm there are also rings across the end and bollard on the off side. If these were all in use it would make winding interesting to say the least.

We left the arm and had a brief stop at the services. The old horse drawn working boat Saturn was moored on the tow pathDSCF8338 side. This boat has a fantastic underwater shape as you can see from looking at the stern. This enables her to move very smoothly through the water.DSCF8340

Ellesmere has a sculpture trail along the canal, some of them are quite interesting. Please click the photos to view them. 

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After the last of the sculptures we were into Ellesmere tunnel, its only short and you can easily see end to end to ensure there is no one coming the other way.DSCF8348

  If you come this way then take care of your aim through bridge 52 or you will be sure to lose paint. When they fitted the protection on the offside running under the bridge they fixed it with a double row of bolts, each head just waiting to attack your blacking or worse your gel coat. They didn’t even use round head or countersunk bolts but hex head.DSCF8352 DSCF8353

At Whixall Junction there are some interesting bench arrangements with what looks like a short piece of fence beside them. If anyone know what they are I would love to know.DSCF8356

   We got to see more helicopters today, this time it was obvious that they were military ones, the noise as they approached was something else.DSCF8364
  It was just on 4 pm when we reached the Whitchurch are so we decided that is where we would spend the night. As we down it looked pretty full so we expected to have to wind and come backDSCF8368 out, but as we turned I could see a space right at the end passed the cruiser on the so we reversed down there and slipped in behind beyond it just before the very end and this is as far as you can go for now, but the Whitchurch Waterways Trust have plans to change that.DSCF8369

Today’s Journeymap 21 12½ Miles, 3 Junctions, 2 Branches, 1 Tunnel, 4 Lift Bridges  in 4¾ hours

     

 

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

To stop wheelchair from rolling off?

Baz said...

Near here the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust are commissioning a new reserve (Steart Marshes) with extensive footpaths with lots of benches, many of which are accompanied by similar sized structures, but with steel tube horizontals and hardwood posts. They have gone to the trouble of labelling them as cycle stands. But I imagine the one you snapped could equally be a wheelchair safety rail.